This month kicked off with the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission where Open Data Watch (ODW) co-hosted an event with the United Nations Statistics Division and Statistics New Zealand to bring together stakeholders and national statistics offices and discuss how to increase impact through strong data sharing and use. On the other side of the world, the ODW team members were in Dubai to present the Open Data Inventory to the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) and kickstart the UAE Open Data Race.
March was also marked by the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. From its distinctive vantage point working at the intersection of open data and official statistics, ODW is actively monitoring, discussing and sharing information related to data availability and use, including through a special edition of What’s Being Said focused on COVID-19 data sources and resources.
Below is a list of sustainable development data articles and reports published in March. If there is something else to add, please contact us.
March
Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics – COVID-19 response (March)
The United Nations Statistics Division, together with Open Data Watch and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data launch a website aimed at supporting national statistical offices during the COVID-19 pandemic through sharing guidance, actions, tools, and best practices to support the operational continuity of data collection. (source)
Leaving No One off the Map (March)
SDSN TReNDS, on behalf of the POPGRID Data Collaborative, releases a report discussing how gridded population data can offer a promising option for delivering data during difficult circumstances and improve aid efficiency. They highlight that for gridded population data to be useful in measuring progress and helping countries achieve the sustainable development goals, there needs to be more research on this application. (source)
(Re-)Defining the Roles and Responsibilities of Data Stewards for an Age of Data Collaboration (March)
The GovLab publishes a position paper that expands on an earlier article by Stefaan G. Verhulst, exploring how to increase data collaboration sustainably and responsibly. The paper analyzes the emergent data steward profession to inform the on-going exploration of cross-sector data collaboration in the public interest. (source)
Praia City Group Handbook on Governance Statistics (3/3)
PARIS21 releases a handbook on governance statistics to facilitate a seamless relationship between the state and its people by ensuring an inclusive, transparent, and accountable relationship with its citizens. (source)
Launch of New Research on Mapping Gender Data Gaps in the SDG Era (3/5)
Data2x launches their new report, Mapping Gender Data Gaps: An SDG Era Update. The report analyzes the gender data gaps across six key domains; health, education, economic opportunities, public participation, human security, and environment. (source)
Fair is the New Open When It Comes to Big Data (3/7)
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the international Open Data Day initiative, CGIAR reflects on their commitments to high quality, open data and their signing of CGIAR’s Open Access and Data Management Policy. (source)
Accessing credible data still a challenge in Kenya, say experts (3/8)
Fredrick Obura from Digital Standard explains that it will take longer than expected for Kenyans to benefit from the recent explosion of data brought about by growth in mobile technology and an increase in internet access. He highlights that despite many Kenyans having internet access there are still constraints when trying to access data. (source)
NZ firms urged to follow Colombia’s open data pathway (3/9)
Newsroom publishes a piece urging New Zealand to adopt an open data policy similar to the one used in Colombia which has been shown to increase their data openness and transparency. They explain that, currently, New Zealand is ranked lower than Colombia in an OECD transparency index. (source)
Q&A: Why CRVS systems are critical for gender equality (3/11)
Devex interviews Irina Dincu, a senior program specialist at the Centre of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, who explains that gender equality cannot be achieved unless women are counted in national datasets. She discusses the crucial role that civil registration and vital statistics systems play in collecting continuous data on women and girls. (source)
Facebook Trying to Bridge Gender Data Gaps (3/11)
Facebook announces a new initiative, Project17, which aims to fill gender data gaps and help monitor the Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this initiative, Facebook said that, together with the World Bank Group and EqualMeasure2030, they plan to run surveys on gender equality worldwide. (source)
Sustainable Development Goals: 36 changes in global indicator framework (3/11)
Kiran Pandey, the Program Director of the Environment Resource Unit at the Centre for Science and Environment, reports on the thirty-six major changes to the global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goal. These changes were drawn up during the 2020 Comprehensive Review conducted by the UN Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators. (source)
What does COVID-19 tell us about Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda? (3/11)
Javier Surasky from CEPEI, shares five reflections of what COVID-19 reveals to us about the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. His fifth reflection is specific to data production capacity, as he explains that data gaps are not the absence of problems but rather improper timely identification of existing problems. (source)
Data privacy issues in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak: requirements on employee personal data differ in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore (3/11)
ReedSmith publishes a piece on data privacy issues during the COVID-19 pandemic through three case studies based in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The study focuses on common issues of data privacy in an employment context. (source)
Why the web needs to work for women and girls (3/12)
To celebrate the World Wide Web’s 31st birthday, its founder, Tim Berners-Lee, reflects on the achievements of the Web Foundation and the challenges of delivering a web to everyone. He declares that the web is not working for women and girls and is leaving them out of the opportunities digital technology has to offer. (source)
Navigating New Roles, Technology, and Ecosystems (3/12)
Alyson Marks from the Sustainable Solutions Network, Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics Team reflects on the 51st session of the UN Statistical Commission. She mentions an influx of data and innovative technologies at the commission and a genuine enthusiasm to use these new resources to fill data gaps. (source)
Data Experts Say New Sources Must Not Replace Traditional Data (3/12)
Faye Leone, from International Institute for Sustainable Development, discusses the Sustainable Development Solutions Network TReNDS meeting on the sidelines of the 51st session of the UN Statistical Commission and their presentation on the availability of SDG indicators. She presents two key lessons. The first is the prominent role of “citizen-generated data,” and the second is the role of the national statistical office and their need to evolve into “data stewards. (source)
Safer cities: the case for open data (3/16)
Ben Knight authors a piece for UNSW Sydney on the role of public data for making cities more accessible, inclusive, and safe. He explains that mobile applications like Safetipin are examples of open, publicly generated data that help design policy for urban settings. (source)
Coronavirus Is Making It Even Harder for the Census To Count Every U.S. Resident (3/17)
Hansi Lo Wang authors a piece of National Public Radio (NPR), on the challenges the U.S. Census Bureau will face because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He mentions that due to the pandemic, the bureau delayed the first round of door-knocking census procedures and the outreach effort which sends out representatives with tablets to help people submit their census responses. (source)
An Intersectional Approach to a Pandemic? Gender Data, Disaggregation, and COVID-19 (3/23)
Natalie Cleveland from Data2x authors a piece on COVID-19 and the need for gender-disaggregated data to conduct a gender analysis of the pandemic. Furthermore, she calls for an intersectional lens to COVID-19 data to understand multiple dimensions crucial to response efforts. (source)
COVID-19 delays gender data collection on the Colombian border (3/24)
Teresa Walsh authors a piece for Devex on Colombia’s restrictions aimed to slow down the spread of coronavirus may also delay gender data collection of women on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. The article explains that the team from CARE collecting data on the power dynamics in the community will try and move to a mobile platform. (source)
Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2020 (3/25)
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific release a report on their progress with the Sustainable Development Goals. This progress report summarizes the region’s shortcomings and what needs to be done by 2030 in order to achieve the SDGs. (source)
The US is tracking people’s movements with phone data, and it’s part of a massive increase in global surveillance (3/31)
Business Insider publishes a piece on the use of phone data as a method for surveillance of people during the COVID-19 Pandemic. They offer new insights on the matter as well as a breakdown of countries that have already started using tracking phone data at varying levels of invasiveness. (source)